For 6,000 USD it seems fair to expect the best, and the Marantz UD 9004 very nearly delivers. Fellow D&M Holdings manufacturer Denon is still top in our list of the highest-rated players with the DVD-A1 UD. But the Denon player only beats the UD 9004 by 0.2 points out of 10. As you can imagine, therefore, we're far from disappointed with the Marantz: excellent picture quality, excellent sound quality, even excellent build quality what's not to love?

Well, admittedly, we did have a few small niggling complaints: The price, for one, is huge, especially since most mid-range players now offer Blu-ray playback that's nothing short of perfect. How can anyone justify spending literally 10 times as much on the same picture quality? We also found the loading times too slow and we mean the you-can't-be-serious, just-kill-me-now kind of slow. Loading the Blu-ray release of Iron Man, for example, took two and a half minutes. Say again? Yes, 150 seconds worth of twiddling your thumbs.

Then there's the operating power consumption, which, at 58 watts, means the Marantz is only less greedy than one other device the PlayStation 3. To be fair though, the kind of people that spend 6,000 dollars on a Blu-ray player might not care all that much about the power bills a bit like monster-truck drivers.

The thing is, the Marantz UD 9004 outputs such perfect Blu-ray pictures that its playback quality barely comes into question. And it earns plenty of praise elsewhere: DVD up-scaling, perfect! Full speaker management system, of course! Multiple screening against electronic interference, check!
One interesting difference we found between this and Denon's top player is the emphasis the Marantz places on high-quality analog audio outputs. Where SA-CD outputs uncompressed via Denon Link on the DVD-A1 UD, the Marantz UD 9004 compresses the signal via HDMI and only gives its best results via analog cinch unusual, perhaps, but who are we to argue? These guys very clearly know what they're doing!

I do not see what is the purpose of this machine. For six grand could they at least develop software right? But no, this is too much for Marantz:

Quote:
"So the player can transmit SA-CD sound via HDMI, but not uncompressed, as is the case with Denon Link; instead, the Marantz only outputs it at 16-bit resolution and a 44.1-kilohertz sampling rate."

I do not see what is the purpose of this machine. For six grand could they at least develop software right? But no, this is too much for Marantz:

Quote:
"So the player can transmit SA-CD sound via HDMI, but not uncompressed, as is the case with Denon Link; instead, the Marantz only outputs it at 16-bit resolution and a 44.1-kilohertz sampling rate."

why the heck would you pay 6g for a player and not use the analog for sacd/dvd-a? HD movie soundtracks can be bitstreamed so the only issue if for those people who would chose to utilize HDMI for HD audio--and if you are one of those individuals this unit is clearly not geared to you--if you are looking for a transport one need look no further than oppo. That said, however, seems like a dumb decision for d&m to not allow for HDMI transfer of dsd...

Admittingly,I am one who bought UD9004 and A1-UD.Marantz,the more expensive than Denon,was the mistake for my decision to bought it,without reading any reviews and I found out that both units were the cloning,even the menu.The difference between these 2 units is the sound,Denon is always the better sound,sweeter and more details.

Admittedly Marantz picked the wrong time to release their behemoth. Had this player been available say, two years ago, Marantz would have been able to justify their price far better. But since the release of the Oppo Universal player, BD-83 and several other's from JVC and LG and Samsung, all of which sell for under $1,000 and in some cases for under $500 it almost makes the Marantz blu-ray player feel old and outdated. There was a time when I would have enjoyed a big, bulky, heavy as all get out, tank of source component. But those days are over. The Oppo BD-83 is perfect for me, because it is slender, light weight, yet when you touch it it doesn't flex or give an inch and has an iron clad face.

Oppo really made a lot of companies in the high end a/v world rethink their gameplans.

Admittedly Marantz picked the wrong time to release their behemoth. Had this player been available say, two years ago, Marantz would have been able to justify their price far better. But since the release of the Oppo Universal player, BD-83 and several other's from JVC and LG and Samsung, all of which sell for under $1,000 and in some cases for under $500 it almost makes the Marantz blu-ray player feel old and outdated. There was a time when I would have enjoyed a big, bulky, heavy as all get out, tank of source component. But those days are over. The Oppo BD-83 is perfect for me, because it is slender, light weight, yet when you touch it it doesn't flex or give an inch and has an iron clad face.

Oppo really made a lot of companies in the high end a/v world rethink their gameplans.

Totally agreed.Oppo is the one that every companies must rethink again before raising the price for their hiend player in the future,Arye bd player sounds like another example.

Where SA-CD outputs uncompressed via Denon Link on the DVD-A1 UD, the Marantz UD 9004 compresses the signal via HDMI and only gives its best results via analog cinch unusual, perhaps, but who are we to argue? These guys very clearly know what they're doing!

Wow - that's a $6000.00 mistake. SACD over HDMI should be full res with 1.3 or better copy/HDCP enabled.

Both are a huge waste of money for those who want a universal player since neither can do same over HDMI when much lesser players have been doing it for years.

Admittingly,I am one who bought UD9004 and A1-UD.Marantz,the more expensive than Denon,was the mistake for my decision to bought it,without reading any reviews and I found out that both units were the cloning,even the menu.The difference between these 2 units is the sound,Denon is always the better sound,sweeter and more details.

Are saying you prefer the sound of the Denon over the Marantz over multi channel analog? Important for me to know because I am one of the brainless morons considering buying the best sounding one of these units to use with my all analog multi channel preamp. Are you aware of any others that have done an A/B comparison for multi channel analog audio?

It is an outstanding UDP and as an owner I can readily say it is certainly not a waste of money, in my case I was certainly able to land one in Australia for a 1/3 of the Aus RRP from Singapore.

Very easy for people to knock something they have no intent of purchasing, yes it's certainly a lot of money but like anyhting else you either pay for it or you don't, ultimatley end user choice but clearly the best 3.6K I've invesed in an all round player and I have owned the Oppo and other than offering quick load times it is not even close to the 9004 in comparison.....

I am finding clearer, better defined, more natural and sharp video on blu rays with the UD9004 than the Oppo, using Source Direct, using my Lumagen Radiance XE and
Sim2 C3X 1080 with a 128" wide cinemascope curved screen and anamorphic lens.
I wasn't expecting the video picture over HDMI to be better than the Oppo's and I am pleasantly surprised.

I had been using an Integra 9.8 preamp/SSP as HDMI 1.3 audio from the Oppo blu ray player. The Integra went multi-channel analog out to my Theta Six Shooter multichannel analog preamp. Audiowise, the UD9004 is much, much better and simply not fatiguing in the lieast, allowing me to play soundtracks low yet year everything crystal clear better than ever. And the UD9004 is better than my prior Theta Compli as a multichannel analog out SACD and DVD-A player. Though on redbook CD it isn't as good as my beloved PS Audio Perfect Wave Transport and DAC combo.

Yea it can be tiresomely slow - I am gonna try disconnecting the ethernet cable
as blu ray live 2.0 is a pile of dung anyway, hopefully that will speed it up. But I am willing to sacrifice speed for quality.

6k msrp BUT NO ONE, NOT EVEN ME, PAYING CLOSE TO THAT!

You mean you don't remember me? Back 1999 - 2003, I started and moderated the AVS Tweaks forum and also the AVS Special Guests forum.